To be speading truth and information on an anti-vax group?

[baublesbaubleseverywhere]

It's quite good fun but at the same time supremely depressing.

I joined the group yesterday after someone on a local FB group directed me there to find some info to justify the (scientifically incorrect) she was posting.

It's British, all women / mums. And the majority of posts are people asking for information that they can share / use to argue their case about different vaccines being dangerous / poisonous etc, so they can persuade their mother / brother etc not to take them, and to justify to others why they won't vaccinate their children.

I'm answering the questions in their posts, but not with a they want / expect to hear.

I feel like Richard Herring must feel on International Women's day when he spends the whole day on Twitter replying to Tweets by men that say "but why don't we have an international men's day?" With "we do! It's November the **"

It can boil down to how you deliver your info. Some people can be extremely patronising when explaining things.
There are many people who state things as fact, and their evidence is some newspaper article. Go to the source and it's a different story. But you also have people even when credible sources are provided they aren't convinced. And this goes on regardless of the side of the argument you are on.
Or evidence is provided that is dated but seem to hang onto old data.

There are risks with vaccinations. Just like any medication we put into our bodies. What those risks are depends on the vaccination and the individual.

Is it really fun? Sounds like a waste of time

@Crustmasiscoming

Is it really fun? Sounds like a waste of time

Only fun if the anti vaxer is nicely nutty or a Google expert

If not then yes a waste of time

Up in the night with baby though so plenty of that

Sounds like you have a lot of time on your hands. Currently nursing a baby back to sleep and had to chuckle at this. People have their own minds and rights to question the vaccine if they like. And if you knew "facts" then you would know it is an adult only vaccine. Stop trying to force things upon people. Grow up.

@Mamascoven

Sounds like you have a lot of time on your hands. Currently nursing a baby back to sleep and had to chuckle at this. People have their own minds and rights to question the vaccine if they like. And if you knew "facts" then you would know it is an adult only vaccine. Stop trying to force things upon people. Grow up.

This wasn't about the covid vaccine. It is fact that the MMR doesn't cause autism. People can make up their own minds. But it's good to base that decision on facts and evidence rather than David Icke YouTube videos.

@canigooutyet

It can boil down to how you deliver your info. Some people can be extremely patronising when explaining things. There are many people who state things as fact, and their evidence is some newspaper article. Go to the source and it's a different story. But you also have people even when credible sources are provided they aren't convinced. And this goes on regardless of the side of the argument you are on. Or evidence is provided that is dated but seem to hang onto old data.

There are risks with vaccinations. Just like any medication we put into our bodies. What those risks are depends on the vaccination and the individual.

Someone was claiming that a specific vaccination contained dangerous ingredients. It didn't. But the chemicals in it had long scary names. It's the dihydrogen monoxide thing. Or, continued belief that vaccines contain heavy metals.

@Mamascoven

Sounds like you have a lot of time on your hands. Currently nursing a baby back to sleep and had to chuckle at this. People have their own minds and rights to question the vaccine if they like. And if you knew "facts" then you would know it is an adult only vaccine. Stop trying to force things upon people. Grow up.

Yes I know you have to be over 16. Didn't say other wise.

Life is way to short for me to grow up. This pandemic shows that.

Whatever situation you are in from teething baby sleepless nights to nursing a dieing relative. Please find any humour in the situation or around you you can. Good for your own mental health and those near you.

Of course I could spend my nights posting made up articles and photos on the internet. Then write posts to people explaining why there DNA is going to be altered so by a vaccine that the government will be able to control them.

Maybe I should scare people into thinking they will be forced to have the vaccine. I have been talking friend down from that one lately. That was fun! Not.

We all have the right to choose of we want vaccinations. I wouldn't want to live in a country that doesn't but don't expect me to sit quietly and listen to anti vax stuff if (and I am saying if) it is so obviously tosh. People saying their fears, reporting proven research or their opinions. Yay go for it

I'm on a closed forum that's owned by one individual. He doesn't generally moderate (others do that) much, but I did love his response to an anti-vax thread. Something along the lines of:

"I ban all vaccine-related threads. Anti-Vaccine idiots can keep their quackery to the crackpot sites where they belong. May the flying spaghetti monster protect the poor children who are the victims of their ignorance."

It can change people's minds.

I've posted on here before (and taken stick for it) about when my girls were born. Their father became an anti-vaxxer. My siblings were anti-vaxxers.

When you are being bombarded by people around you and you are not the most confident person in the world it is hard to debate or go against the stance that it seems everyone around you agrees with.

When I tried to discuss it with people they either agreed with my ex (who was my partner at the time) or just called me thick/stupid for having any doubts.

The person that eventually meant my DDs were given the MMR (after shamefully I had agreed with single vaccines) was a lovely GP on a forum I was on. She didn't call me stupid and she didn't say "no child ever gets harmed by a vaccine". She listened, she understood that I was an unconfident person because my parents were neglectful and abusive so I over-thought every decision and she gave me the actual facts about the teeny number of people who react badly to vaccines each year.

She actually gave me the confidence to go against my ex, and my siblings, and have my kids vaccinated. I might have been the only person on that forum that listened to her, but hopefully that still feels worth her time.

lyralalala that's all so true.

I hate seeing people called stupid when they've simply not had access to the information they need.

I also have a problem with the sheer level of pisstake and satirical material that's around. Satire only works when people have enough knowledge on a subject to realise the satire is a humorous contrast with reality. If the majority of what someone's exposed to is the satire, how are they expected to magically know the reality which is being satirised?

That's not to say there aren't wilfully stupid people on the earth – we've all met some! Or people proud to be contrarian – and easily manipulated as they'll automatically believe the opposite of what The Man tells them!

But it's OK to have questions, and ideally those in good faith should be answered.

I suppose one more outcome of the active misinformation campaigns of our era is that many people are worn out dealing with the sheer volume of misinformation on many topics, which is seeded maliciously but then spread by entirely well-intentioned people.

Good article on the topic this morning:

Vaccine doctors on TikTok: 'Come for the fun, stay for the science'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-55249405

I was in a fb group like this when dd1 was born. It was an off shoot feom bf and baby wearing.
Might have had barefoot in the title. Anyway she was an Aussie childminder I think.
The main arguments are mmr causes autism and vaccines contain formaldehyde and or mercury and best of all bits of aborted foetuses. It's like a cult.

my cousin is an anti vexer. she is adamant that the MMR causes autism. so her dd hasn't had it or any of the other vaccines. dd still has autism though.

she is also really for her dd having the covid vaccine. and will pay for it apparently. this to me makes no sense. but she's having it so she can travel when she's older. as its been mooted that a lot of airlines will need proof of vaccination before allowing travel.

That is sad but ironic or is she scared the MMR will cause double autism

Our local antivax barefoot mum has kids off school all the time because they are sick. Currently they are recovering from the virus. Suppose at least now the kids will have some immunity and it will matter less if they get this jab.

@Truelymadlydeeplysomeonesmum

That is sad but ironic or is she scared the MMR will cause double autism

Our local antivax barefoot mum has kids off school all the time because they are sick. Currently they are recovering from the virus. Suppose at least now the kids will have some immunity and it will matter less if they get this jab.

probably....

she was adamant that i shouldn't let the dc have the jabs. because they'd absolutely get autism. if i send my aunt and uncle a video of the dc she says that they're "showing signs" already and its all because of the vaccine.

as far as i'm aware they are not autistic. and even if they were it wouldn't be because of a vaccine.

she's also a preachy vegan. i'm all for everyone having their own opinion and living together in harmony etc. but don't tell me that my life is shit because i eat meat.

@TheDayAfter reactions to vaccines currently on offer occur within 6 weeks of vaccination. It has been longer than 6 weeks since the trials started so the scientists have judged that the vaccine is safe. We don’t know the long term effects of lots of vaccines and medicines, or even food additives, but it’s a balance of harms and risks.
What we do know is that coronavirus kills people, and that risk is greater than the risks from the vaccine especially for older people. Source: More or Less BBC Radio 4.

If people choose not to have the vaccine you’re choosing to be a vector of disease who could infect those who are unable to have the vaccine but want it. Make a choice for your own body but remember that you’ll come into contact with people who can’t be vaccinated but may be at risk.

My vaxxed kids had a lot of time off school. No vaccine for stomach bugs, hand foot and mouth, tonsillitis, conjunctivitis and more,

They are children so it's a moot point anyway as it's not available to under 16's in the UK.